Tag: Rybakina

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Tennis

Grass, Glorious Grass!

After the disappointment of all of my favourite players flopping at Roland Garros, the grass season has been so much better!

Petra Kvitova is a title winner again! She took the WTA 500 tournament trophy in Berlin, beating Donna Vekic in the final in straight sets. Indeed, Petra did not drop a set all week. The tournament was hit with rain forcing Petra (and Donna) to play two matches on Saturday and then the final on Sunday, but in many ways it was her challenging round 1 match against fellow Czech, Karolina Pliskova that set the tone. Petra looked so much happier to be back on grass than the struggles of clay. Great wins over Garcia and Alexandrova and Vekic, all players who love grass too. Terrific ball striking – watch out for the winner on match point in the final!

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Tennis

A New Big Two? (Or 3? Or 4?)

Aryna Sabalenka (Blr) and Iga Swiatek (Pol)

So the last few weeks have not seen my usual favourites make much of a splash on the WTA tour. Instead, it has all been about Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka, who seem to have distanced themselves at the top the women’s rankings in 2023. World number 1 Swiatek won her second successive title at the WTA500 in Stuttgart, beating Sabalenka in straight sets in the final. Advantage Iga. However, his week, Sabalenka got her revenge, beating Swiatek in the WTA1000 Madrid Open final in 3 tight sets for her second Madrid title. Deuce!

Sabalenka really needed to get this win after a relatively straightforward win for Swiatek in Stuttgart. As a former champion in Madrid, where big ball strikers often thrive in the high altitude conditions, Sabalenka looked on a mission and quite honestly, should have won in straight sets. One loose game in set 2 gave Iga the edge but her aggressive game had Iga scrambling and she was a deserved winner.

In Stuttgart, Iga was the more confident one – again, as a former champion. Once Sabalenka let her level drop a little at 3-3 in the first set, it was kind of game over!

With Rome and Roland Garros coming up, where Iga is defending champion, it will be fascinating to see if she rolls through or whether Sabalenka can reproduce this form on the slower clay.

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Tennis

Magnificent Miami!


What a week in Miami, and what a week to be a Petra Kvitova fan! Yes, Petra did it. She won the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami, a 30th career title and the win puts her back into the WTA top 10. In the final on 1st April, Petra beat favourite Elena Rybakina, who was going for the Sunshine Double after taking the title in Indian Wells a few weeks back. Rybakina was the heavy favourite after having a great start to the 2023 season, but this was no April Fools Day trick, Petra Kvitova really won her 9th WTA1000 level title, the biggest win since the Madrid 1000 in 2018.

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Tennis

Raise your Glass for the Indian Wells Champions!

The WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells finished this weekend and I was delighted to celebrate title number 15 for Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in the women’s doubles. Following on from winning the 2023 Australian Open title, this cemented them even more firmly as the undisputed number one team, and giving them an 11-0 record this year,

The women’s singles champion was Elena Rybakina who defeated Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets for her first WTA1000 level title.

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Tennis

New Year, New Slam Champ!

Sabalenka- Australian Open champion 2023
Aryna Sabalenka – Champion in Melbourne


It’s the end of January 2023, and after one month of the new season plenty has happened.

The Australian Open 2023 was very entertaining and ended with a great win for Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka has been a top-10 player for five years but has always fallen short in Grand Slams. It took several years for her to make a second week, but she has made a few semifinals, but stumbled at that stage. Notably, the 2021 US Open where she allowed Layla Fernandez back into the match and even the 2022 US Open saw her lead Swiatek by a set but lose. However, she began the 2023 season really well. She took the title in Adelaide and went through to the Australian Open final without dropping a set. 

Her opponent in the final was the Wimbledon champion, Elena Rybakina, who has been a players I’ve admired for a while. Rybakina backed up her Wimbledon win very very well with a fantastic run to the final. A run that included a very convincing win over the world number one Iga Świątek. 

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Tennis

Oh Yes Ostrava!!!

Well Krejcikova fans, what another week it was! Barbora Krejcikova did something nobody else has managed in 2022: winning a final against world number 1, Iga Swiatek. After taking the title in Tallinn last week, Krejcikova followed up with an even more impressive run and her first WTA 500 level title.

Coming into this match, it was a little worrying for us Krejcikova fans. Would this be a let down? Barbora’s return to form over the last few weeks has been fantastic, but Iga in a final? With a massive crowd of Polish fans? 

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Tennis

The Y̶e̶a̶r̶ Month of the Kat

In my list of favourite tennis players, Katerina Siniakova is usually mainly part of the doubles team I cheer for most. The 2022 US Open, saw Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova take the title to complete an amazing set this year. They have won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, three Grand Slams, 18 matches undefeated. The only reason they could not defend the Roland-Garros title was because Krejcikova contracted Covid. Amazing dominance and it completes a sixth Grand Slam women’s doubles title for the pair along with an Olympic gold medal and the 2021 year end championship. Truly one of the best teams of recent years.

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